Money Blog - Not a Loan But We'll Give You Money

Photo by Kyle Humfeld

THE SCENARIO I get home equity loan offers in the mail all the time, but this week I got something a little different. Namely, rather than lending me money which is secured against my condo, 'Unison' wants to send me money to buy some of the future appreciation in my condo. When I sell, we figure out how much my condo has appreciated, and then they get back the money they gave me plus 40% of the increase in value (from today, not from the day I bought it). If the condo has depreciated, then I have to pay them back less than the amount they gave me (40% of the decrease in value). If it doesn't go up or down, I just give them back the money they gave me. They'll give me up to 20% of the value of my condo. The question: If my condo appreciates 5% per year for... Read more...